Occupy the Voting Booth

A year ago today, the Occupy movement began.  It gave me such hope to see people organizing in that way.  Even though PICO uses different methods to get the same jobs done, I and other individual organizers found ourselves grateful for the Occupy movement’s success in highlighting the questions and issues no one was talking much about before that point.

The movement gave us a shorthand for the unhelpful wealth disparity in this nation, 99%, 1%, are common parlance now.  They act as shorthand to keep us aware of the reality of wealth disparity and the systems that keep it in place.

The Occupations were important and made a real change in the consciousness of many.  Today there have been some protests and rallies in New York City, here in San Francisco and elsewhere.  They look to be in the hundreds rather than the thousands we saw last year at this time.  It will be interesting to see if a strong Occupation reemerges.  

Meanwhile, everyone who cares about the direction of our country has to also look at other avenues for change.  Though our democracy may be on life support, it isn't dead yet and exercising our right to vote along with our rights to free speech and free assembly can help revive it.

Too often I hear from folks who do not believe their vote counts or that voting makes one complicit in our current systems of injustice.  Neither one of these beliefs reflect reality.  The last thing the big corporations and the power mongers want is for you to vote, because your vote actually does have power.  You give that up when you refuse to vote.

 

I learned at a recent SFOP meeting that over 60% of the people who actually vote are wealthy, white, and seniors.  It was a crystallizing moment for me.  Why don’t politicians pay attention to the needs of young people, minorities, the poor?  Because they know there are not as many of us who vote.  Voter demographic information is tracked and the politicians can look it up as easily as anyone else.  We can hold all the rallies, sit ins, protests we want, but if we don’t vote, they don’t care.

It’s just that simple.

If your aren’t already registered, you can do it right now at https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/register-to-vote/ if you live in California.  That’s simple too.  Then get out and vote on election day, or send in a vote by mail ballot ahead of time and beat the rush.   

 

The way to break the power of big money is with a big vote.  If you want your interests to matter, you must get out to the polls and vote.  And, yes, I know about voter suppression laws and all the other tactics those who have the power right now have in place to keep power all to themselves. 

Not going to the polls doesn’t make any of that go away.  The way we beat it is turning out in droves.  If the politicians see a lot of us at the polls they will see and hear us better at the rallies, too. 

The Faithful Fools Come on Board

SF CARES has a new collaborator!  We are delighted to announce that the Faithful Fools are now a formal collaborator with SF CARES.  They say of themselves:

The Faithful Fools Street Ministry was founded in 1998 when the ministries of the Rev. Kay Jorgensen and Sr. Carmen Barsody, OSF converged in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco.

Today the Faithful Fools learn and educate through engaging in relationships with people everywhere on the economic spectrum, from those who are poor and/or living outside to those who are housed and wealthy.    

Walking and working together people of privilege and people who are impoverished help one another bridge gaps and shift perceptions that inhibit personal and social change. We work to build community by breaking through boundaries that separate us, such as economic power, religious beliefs, class, race, gender, ethnicity, and together we discover what connects us.

Our programs include Educational Street Retreats in the U.S. and Nicaragua for individuals and groups from schools, universities, civic and faith-based organizations; Daily accompaniment of individuals living on the streets, in residential hotels, and people struggling with mental illness,  depression, addictions and isolation from all walks of life; Meditation four mornings a week; Somatic Experiencing (SE) a practice that is aimed at relieving and resolving the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical trauma-related health problems; Arts program which includes monthly poetry readings and film nights, a textile hat workshop, a gallery to exhibit people’s visual art, and sponsoring publications of poetry anthologies of the people in the Tenderloin and beyond; Advocacy through participating in the Community Advisory Board of Tom Waddell Clinic that serves the homeless population, helping coordinate the Tenderloin Health and Safety Fair and serving as the fiscal agent for that event, and serving on the Board of the Welcome Ministry, as well as advocating for services and just policies before the City Supervisors; Internship and Field Ed site for seminarians, social workers and community advocates.

Do you find yourself wanting to take a deep breath at the end of that last paragraph?  I did.  Yes, they really do do all that.  And do it well.  And with deep caring and good humor.  Stop by at 234 Hyde one day and see for yourself.  Come meditate, or for the Bible study Tuesday morning or the writing group Tuesday afternoon, or for a one day street retreat on the third Saturday of most months.   I guarantee you won't regret it.  The rest of we here at SF CARES are tremendously excited to welcome such an active, vibrant organization into our collaboration as we continue to expand our circle of care in San Francisco.

Community Dinner Needs Hosts

Did you know that many church feeding programs, such as St. Anthony’s and Glide, do not serve dinner on Saturday nights?  Saturday Night can be the hardest time for those who need a meal to find one.  Welcome tries to at least somewhat fill this gap on the second and fourth Saturday of each month by hosting a Community Dinner at Old First Presbyterian.  At each dinner we serve 200 - 300 people a nutritious dinner in a warm, respectful environment. 

This meal is a cut above many other free meals in the City.  The meal is served restaurant style to our guests at their tables. Sometimes, one of our guests will offer to entertain the others by playing the grand piano located in the hall where we serve dinner.  When the serving slows down, we eat with our guests and we encourage our volunteers to do the same.  Often we have socks or other clothing or toiletries to offer our guests. 

Unsurprisingly, we have seen an uptick in the number of guests coming to the Community Dinners over the last year.  We are doing all right on volunteers to serve (though we could use a few more!) but what we really need is more groups to buy food and prepare the meal.  The kitchen at Old First is well outfitted and there is always an experienced person on hand to help volunteers with whatever they need.  Right now we are looking for groups to cover any of the fourth Saturdays through the summer:  June 23^rd, July 28^th or August 25^th.  We can accommodate large groups, or if you only have a few people to cook, we will get additional volunteers to help you serve. 

If you like the idea of providing a meal when it is most needed and of serving in an environment that respects the dignity of our guests give us a call at 650-673-3572 or email us at sfcare@saintpaulus.org.

What’s New at SF CARES?

Spring has certainly the season of new things here at SF CARES!  We have a ton of seedlings at the Free Farm as one would expect, but we also have some great new projects sprouting.  I’ve already written about the backpack drive we’re doing for Project Homeless Connect's July 27th event in the Bayview focused on families.  We’ve also started a Theater of the Oppressed and are about to launch a GED class aimed at people who live outside.

Theater of the Oppressed is a technique which has been used for decades for personal and political transformation.  Participants write and perform short plays about difficulty life situations for one another and switch out parts to explore different approaches to dealing with their experiences - rehearsing for life.  It can also be used as in a variety of ways for political activism; indeed Augusto Boal, the person who originated Theater of the Oppressed, was banished from Brazil for it and then from all of South America.  You know it’s a powerful technique if it can get you kicked off a continent. 

Our workshops run from 6:30a.m. to 9:30a.m. every Tuesday at St. Paulus Lutheran Church at 950 McAllister.

Our GED class is almost ready to sprout.  We have a venue, we have our curriculum, all we need are one or two tutors who can commit to one or two mornings a week.  We’re especially looking for people who have some experience teaching.

Contact Valerie at sfcare@saintpaulus.org or 415-673-3572.

The Night Ministry: What We Do

Project Family Connect Needs Backpacks and Needs You

According to a December 4, 2011 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, "in the [San Francisco's] public schools, there are 2,200 homeless children, some in shelters, others in cars, or on couches, or in long-term hotel rooms. That's 400 more homeless children than a year ago."

Project Homeless Connect is setting out to fill the need and SF CARES is proud to help with this effort.   We hope you’ll join school groups, interfaith groups and others in the backpack drive.   We are encouraging folks to hold their own backpack drive and deliver them to us.  We are also hosting our own backpack stuffing event at St. Paulus Lutheran Church on July 15^th at 1:30 p.m. as well and would love to have you come join us.  The backpacks will be distributed at our July 27th Family Connect. 

 

How you can help:

• Purchase one or more backpacks and the supplies needed for one student (we’ll send you the list of supplies after you sign up below)
• Label the back pack with the grade and sex it’s intended for
• Deliver the backpack to Project Homeless Connect or one of our drop off locations around the Bay Area (we’ll send you information about delivery after you sign up below)
• Sign up to help now and we’ll send you supply lists for the grades we still need backpacks for.  Click here to sign up.
• Come to the backpack stuffing event on June 15^th at 1:30 and help us stuff 150 backpacks.  St. Paulus is located at 950 McAllister between Laguna and Webster.

Thank you:Sports Basement for supporting our backpack drive by offering a 10% discount to customers who mention Project Homeless Connect

Email us at sfcare@saintpaulus.org with any questions or to RSVP.

Night Ministry Open House Is Coming Soon

San Francisco Night Ministry is holding its first annual Open House! Have you ever wanted to learn more about how the Night Ministry works?  Wanted to learn more about what service opportunities are available with Night Ministry in a low pressure environment? Come enjoy good food and music and learn more about the Night Ministry.  You’ll be able to meet the Night Ministers and some of our dedicated volunteers.  This is also your opportunity to learn about how to become a Crises Line Counselor or Daytime Volunteer Corp volunteer or to find out more about our Open Cathedral services.  There’ll be a chance to hear about the great plans we have in the works to celebrate our 50^th Anniversary as well. 

Come join us at St. Mark's at 1111 O'Farrell Street in San Francisco on June 3rd from 2p.m. until 4 p.m. for fun, good conversation, good music, and good food.  This is a free event and all are welcome.

For further information contact office@sfnightministry.org or check out our Facebook event page.